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Those are Ashcraft lamps behind the two Simplexes. In the center are two Brenkert followspots. At the far left it's a Brenkert Brenograph effects projector. Note the bank of houselight dimmers down at the far end of the booth.
This view of the booth appeared in the March 19, 1927 issue of Exhibitors Herald. It's on Internet Archive. Thanks to theatre researcher Mike Hume for spotting it. See his terrific Historic Theatre Photography site for thousands of photos of theatres he's investigated in L.A. and elsewhere. The caption:
"Visitors to the Carthay Circle theatre, one of Los Angeles' most beautiful theatres, have expressed their satisfaction over projection at the house, according to advices from the West Coast. This house is equipped with Ashcraft high intensity arcs used in many of the country's largest theatres and in the case of 'The Volga Boatman,' which recently ended a long engagement, and 'What Price Glory,' now running at the Carthay Circle.
Sound arrives: Evidently sound came to the theatre in
the spring of 1928. "Street Angel," an April 1928 release, played the
theatre in Movietone. Meaning it was Western Electric sound-on-film equipment. They had deals with both Fox and Warner Bros.
70mm Fox Grandeur in 1930: The Carthay Circle was one of the few Los
Angeles theatres (or theatres anywhere) to be equipped for the 70mm Fox
Grandeur process. The Carthay got special prisms installed in front of
the Grandeur projectors to (supposedly) eliminate the keystoning
distortion caused by the 23 degree projection angle.
The only feature screened in 70mm Grandeur at the Carthay was the 1930 production "Happy Days" which had
a seven week run opening February 28, 1930. They also ran a second
feature in 35mm along with it.
A few frames from a 70mm print of "Happy Days." It's from the American Widescreen Museum's page "Seventy Millimeters," reprinting a February 1930 American Cinematographer article. On the release prints there was a very wide optical sound track that we don't see here. We also don't see perforations -- there were four large ones per frame. The process ran at 20 frames per second.
An illustration of the "triple vision" image you'd see with "Happy Days" in Grandeur at the Carthay -- on a screen of "unprecedented proportions." The image and a story appeared in the Hollywood Filmograph issue of March 1, 1930. It's on Internet Archive. The article noted:
Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality for finding the item and posting it as his Noirish post #26477.
A photo of one the hand-built Simplex 70mm projectors installed at the Carthay Circle Theatre in 1930. Note the curved gate (the opposite direction of 1950s and later designs) as well as the fact that projector and soundhead are one unit, a deviation from normal American design practice. The photo is from the great In70mm.com article "Magnified Grandeur - The Big Screen 1926- 1931" where David Coles gives a wonderful history of this early widescreen process.
A view of the booth installation in 1930 at the Carthay Circle. It's another photo that's reproduced in David Coles' Magnified Grandeur" article. This image and the one above appear in the 1931 AMPAS publication "Recording Sound For Motion Pictures" edited by Lester Cowan. This shot had earlier appeared with the April 1930 article in The Motion Picture Projectionist that's reproduced lower on this page.
A March 15, 1930 ad for "Happy Days" that Jack Tillmany found in the L.A. Times noted:
"The Film of the Future." This is another item included by Pancho Ds in his post on the private Facebook group Friends of 70mm.
The Carthay booth installation is described in this April 1930 article from The Motion Picture Projectionist. Many thanks to Bob Furmanek of the 3-D Film Archive for locating the article. These Grandeur machines were 70mm only. The Carthay installation was three Grandeur machines and two regular 35mm machines.
Simplex later built a few prototype 35/70 Grandeur machines. It's one of those second generation machines we see on this article from the August 1, 1931 issue of Motion Picture Herald:
The Los Angeles Theatres Film and Theatre Technology page has more about Fox Grandeur and other early 70mm processes. For more information also see the overview page for Grauman's Chinese, which got a Grandeur installation for the eight week run of "The Big Trail," opening October 2, 1930. Most likely the same machines were just moved from the Carthay Circle to the Chinese.
A Super Simplex with an RCA 1070 soundhead set up to run sound on separate 1000' reels. International Photographer notes in their caption: "This ultra-modern equipment is described in the accompanying article by Paul R. Cramer, Local 150 I.A.T.S.E." Paul says:
"It might be assumed... that to thread this type of dummy would be a lengthy and tedious process, but such is not the case. It has been found that with a little practice it is possible to thread up the complete set of two films in a little more time than for one film, and it is not nearly as complicated as it sounds.... The picture... shows a closeup on the Simplex machine with RCA rotary stabilizer sound head, with preview attachments. This head will produce either standard or push-pull type recordings, controlled by throwing the toggle switch, located in the lower left corner of the sound head (indicated by the white circle in the picture).
"For standard sound the switch position is up, and for push-pull down. In this same attachment is a potentiometer for balancing the output from both sides of the double P.E. cell. This is required for the finer reproduction of push-pull track. Directly above this housing (indicated by the arrow) is the lens and prism assembly, which picks up the two beams of light passed by the push-pull track and directs them into the P.E. cell, located in the small round shield, adjacent to the lens and prism assembly. (Int. Photog., Dec. 1937, P. 25, Figs. 7-8-9.)
"This photograph also shows how the two separate films are threaded in the machine. The motion picture film is threaded through the projector in the conventional manner, while the sound film comes from the magazine to the left of the sound head. Both these films come together at the hold back sprocket in the projector head. From there the sound film is threaded over the sound drum and pull down sprocket. It can be noted how the picture film is guided by rollers away from the rest of the mechanism in the sound head, until it comes together again with the sound film at the lower hold back sprocket. From there on the two films are seen traveling into their respective take-up magazines."
"The shot... shows the central and master control station in the projection room of the Carthay Circle Theatre. There are five stations, two to the right and two to the left of this station. To let you in on what all the gadgets are I will start from the top and work down. First, you will notice a hand knob on the uppermost square box, just to the left of the port hole fire shutter. This knob controls the master selector switch. As you can see, it is marked RC for right [and] center machine[s], RL for the right and left machines, and LC for the left and center machines. With this selector switch it is possible to run a picture on any one machine and the sound on any other machine; not that it has ever been necessary, but it is possible and quite practical.
"As will be noted, it is very handy for the projectionist at this station to change the sound while [beside the machine]. Directly below this apparatus is the machine level, sometimes called the preset control. With this type of control, as used with the RCA sound system, the projectionist can set the volume control on the amplifier panel board and cue the picture with the present [sic] control. This is practical only when your cues are within 20 db of normal. The preset control is set up in steps of 0 - 2 1/2 - 5 - 7 1/2 - 10 either plus or minus. However, it is quite simple for one to raise or lower the volume control with the remote control buttons just below and to the left of this preset control. Notice the buttons that say raise or lower. Just a touch of these buttons will raise or lower the volume on the main amplifier, giving the projectionist complete control of the volume at all times. This was used quite a bit for Samuel Goldwyn's 'Hurricane.'
"The volume of each machine can be preset so that when the sound change over is made there is no last minute moving of the master volume control, and the sound change over can be made with less than one db volume increase or decrease. Sound reproduction at the Carthay Circle Theatre is accomplished by the regular methods used by RCA in all their P.G. 92 installations with alterations to render the system more flexible. These alterations in no way alter the basic principles of the standard RCA installation but rather increases its efficiency in that it allows the projectionist to select the frequency peaks to be cut off at any desired point and gives him the further choice of increasing the power output of his system to the horns. Perhaps the reader would better understand the sound system at the Carthay Circle if we outline the layout and discuss the component parts as we come to them.
The RCA amp rack. Paul Cramer has the details:
"In the shot... the arrangement of the amplifier rack may be seen. Each track is a complete sound channel. At the top may be seen the pilot lights which indicate the on or off position of the power supply units which are located elsewhere in the projection suite. Over the amplifier at the right are located the throwover switches which directs the output from any of the three projectors into either of the amplifier channels. Each channel has mounted directly under these switches the voltage amplifiers.
"Under the voltage amplifier on the rack on the left is mounted the radio input panel which permits the projectionist to play any broadcasted program over the theatre horns. This feature is never used, however, without the consent of the broadcast company and then only on special occasions such as a premiere when the opening program outside the theatre may be picked up from the air and played in the theatre. This panel is not in the rack on the right. Under this panel and opposite each other in each rack is the crossover network switches which enable the projectionist to alter the characteristics of the system so that the frequency response may be cut off at any predetermined point to best reproduce the subject being presented.
A look across the Macnarc lamps behind the booth's three projectors plus the dimmerboard on the far wall. Here's Paul again:
"The final picture in the layout... shows the projection room of the Carthay Circle Theatre from another angle. On the left are seen the three projection machines, while to the rear left is the largest preset type set of dimmer banks west of New York, that is located in the projection room. There are three rows of dimmers with fourteen dimmers in each row and three sets of preset switches on each dimmer.
"These dimmers are all run from remote control switches, one on each of the five control panels located on the front wall of the projection room, described in full in the account of the master control station... Just to the right of this dimmer bank is the general projection room switchboard; while to the right of that, at the extreme edge of the scene, is the door to the shop or work room, where also are located all of the fuses and relays of all the lighting circuits in the house. Paul R. Cramer, Local 150, IATSE. "
Fantasound stereo at the Carthay Circle in 1941: This theatre was one
of the few in the country to exhibit Disney's "Fantasia" with the
elaborate sound system that was intended by the studio.
An ad piece for "Fantasia" touting the "Multiplane Technicolor" photography and "the new thrilling Fantasound." It's from page 1 of the Fantasound section on Martin Hart's wonderful site American Widescreen Museum.
The projectors were interlocked via Selsyn motors with separate optical sound reproducers carrying stereo tracks for 3 stage channels plus surrounds. It was a complex system that also included variable gain amplifiers to increase the dynamic range. A mono backup track was on the film with the picture.
"Film Drive - The sound-tracks are scanned on a curved film-gate. Constancy of film movement is obtained by the use of a magnetically driven drum which draws the film down over the gate. Flutter measurements indicate that this is a highly satisfactory driving and scanning arrangement.
"Optical System - A single 10-volt, 5-ampere exciter lamp mounted in a double holder in the left compartment of the soundhead provides the illumination. All four sound-tracks are scanned simultaneously by a single optical system of the slitless type. The optical train consists of a light-collecting optical system which images the lamp filament as a long beam of light 1 1/4 mils high across the four soundtracks. The illuminated image of the sound-tracks is then projected by a camera and cylindrical lens system onto four multiple beamsplitter lenses which, in turn, focus each half of the push-pull soundtracks upon the respective cathodes of four push-pull phototubes."
The 11 racks of RCA equipment at the Carthay Circle for "Fantasia." The photo appears with "Experiences in Road-Showing Walt Disney's 'Fantasia,'" an article on Fantasound section page 3 of the American Widescreen Museum. Note the two sound dummies down there in the corner.
The film opened in New York November 13, 1940 and at the Carthay Circle on January 30, 1941. Due
to the cost of the installations, disappointing boxoffice performance,
and looming war-related materials shortages most "Fantasia" engagements
were mono optical. After this great experiment, we didn't see stereo
sound in movie theatres again until "This Is Cinerama" arrived in 1952.
70mm TODD-AO at the Carthay Circle: This was the third Los
Angeles theatre equipped for TODD-AO with the second film in the process, "Around the World in 80 Days,"
opening December 22, 1956. It ran for 127 weeks. The first film, "Oklahoma!" played the Egyptian and the United Artists.
Many other 70mm roadshow runs followed including "Porgy and Bess"
(1959), "Can-Can" (1960), "The Alamo" (1960), "El Cid" (1961), "The
Agony and the Ecstasy" (1965) and "Shoes of the Fisherman" (1968-69). The
theatre also got the 70mm moveover run of "The Sound of Music" (from
the Fox Wilshire) in 1966 and a run the 70mm version of "Gone With the
Wind" in 1967.
More about TODD-AO: See the Los Angeles Theatres Film and Theatre Technology page for more about this and other
70mm processes. Also see the TODD-AO discussion on the overview page for the Egyptian Theatre, the first such installation in Los Angeles.
For a great compilation of information about 70mm runs in Los Angeles theaters, see Michael Coate's 70mm in Los Angeles page on FromScriptToDVD.com. Also check out his terrific 2016 article "Around the World in 60 Years; Remembering 'Around the World in 80 Days' on its 60th Anniversary" on the site The Digital Bits. His posts on Cinema Treasures also have listed 70mm runs at the Carthay Circle.
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